"This is what it takes to drive a [wo]man to drink"

So I'm back from a month away...from the blogworld, that is. I was only gone from Connecticut for two weeks.

Life exploded, though. I started a freelance project in NY and it made my timing so screwy. Good screwy, but screwy. I'm just starting to get used to it now and it's all kind of evening out. Which is a good thing.

I don't even know where to start. Puerto Rico was not a vacation...at all. Sure I had four days on the beach, but the drama that preceded and followed really overshadowed those days.

And when I say drama...I say full on breakdowns where I am sobbing uncontrollably and feeling particularly bereft of my experience.

I've processed and vented, so I don't feel the need to recount the details. But I will say this: If you want to know where your edges lie, spend two weeks with your mom and extended family. And then have everyone get in your way and try to tell you what you can and can't handle, what you can and can't do. Gives me agita just thinking about it.

I know so much more about what I need and how I operate just by being around a whole lot of people who are *completely* the opposite.

And that will be valuable one day. Right now, I still have a scab from the whole trip. And you know how it is with those...they bother you and you just want to pick them off...but if you do, you bleed. So you just have to deal.

On the bright side, I did learn a ton about my family. I saw where my parents got married and the house where my mom grew up. I spent time with my hilarious aunt and uncle who I never see. I had a really nice BBQ while I was visiting with my dad. I read letters that my grandmother sent home from Europe where they lived from 1963-65, and got her perspective. And best of all, I got a Life magazine from December 3, 1963. It's the one that covered JFK's assassination. It's half ripped because it's been hiding at my grandmother's for so long...but it's pretty cool.

Here's the real silver lining, though. I went down to PR for two reasons: 1)vacation time (which really didn't happen) and 2)to tend to my grandmother who had been pretty depressed. And she was in SUCH a better mood by the time I left. It was a complete turnaround. So if I had to accomplish only one of those goals while on vacation, I'm glad it was the good one.

I keep thinking that I'll write more about it...but I really don't think I will. I appreciate the experience, but I'd really rather forget about it. It's not what I needed right now, but it's what I got. So I can accept that and move on.

I'll write more about the project I'm working on and other plans in the workings. Soon. :)